


You Make it Easy

by spamanas



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Minor Violence, One Shot, Shut in!Marco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8979943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spamanas/pseuds/spamanas
Summary: Marco doesn't like to go out, especially after dark. Eren just wants to help his friend out of his shell. Jean likes to hit on cute boys, especially if it bothers Eren.Accompanying artwork can be found  here





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyMonogatari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMonogatari/gifts).



> For EienAi on twitter! She asked for "Shut in Marco meets Eren's sorta asshole friend and Marco comes out of his shell"  
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I like to stuff Star Wars references into everything I do~~

Eren was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. The coffee had already gone cold twice while Marco sat quietly at his kitchen table, resisting the urge to chew at his nails. Why did he make coffee at 2 in the afternoon anyway? He stared down into the mug holding his third cup. Yeah, he wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight. It was his day off and he had been perfectly content to enjoy the peaceful sanctuary of his home. No reason to go out, no people to face, just the comfortable silence of his living room and a copy of Slaughterhouse-five. But that was all washed down the drain when he woke up to a text from Eren. 

_Hey obi wan >:P since you didnt come with me 2 the concert last night imma be there @ 2 tomorrow with a buddy to grill ur ass_

So there he sat bouncing his leg nervously waiting for the little imp to show up and continue to ruin his one day of peace for the week. Why couldn’t he have just gone to the stupid concert with him? Roughly two and a half hours of showing his face in public and then he could have retreated to the safe haven of his apartment to live out his Sunday in peace. Eren had been nagging Marco to go out more for the better part of three years. He just didn’t understand why Marco was so determined to stay home. To his credit, Marco has never been truly honest with Eren either. It probably wasn’t fair to keep him in the dark seeing as he had always been a genuine and unyielding friend. It wasn’t that Marco was actively trying to keep it a secret; he just didn’t know how to talk about it. Every time he thought about it though, his throat tightened and the words would not form. And there he’d sit, mouth opening and closing uselessly, feeling like a jackass. 

A groan escaped him as he dropped his head to his arms. Marco knew he wasn’t always the greatest of friends but did Eren seriously threaten to bring a stranger to his apartment and then stand him up? The sound of his door creaking open made him jerk up in seat.

“Hey, Marco!” Eren yelled from the door. “Sorry we’re late but also I’m not that sorry because you stood me up. Taste of your own medicine really.” He said as he stuffed the key Marco gave him back into his pocket. He was still talking but all Marco could focus on was the man kicking the door shut behind him. Stranger in his apartment. All the alarms were going off in his head. Stranger that was absently looking around his living room. Stranger that was now glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. Marco’s face was hot. Stranger’s face was hot. He felt his blush go deeper. _Focus Marco. Yes, someone you don’t know is in your apartment but he’s Eren’s friend. It’s fine. Don’t be so nervous._ He forced himself to meet his eyes. _Don’t be nervous it’s only Eren’s really hot friend. Great. Cool, cool, cool._ He was taller than Eren and leaner. His face was all sharp lines and angles with a fluffy blonde undercut to contrast. 

Eren was still prattling on as he made his way to the kitchen. Marco felt like he should stand up. _That’s what you do when you meet people right?_ He thought real hard about standing, he swears, but instead he just warped his fingers tighter around his mug. “But anyway,” Eren said while gesturing back to his friend. “This asshole here is J-” 

“Jean. I’m Jean.” He interrupted and motioned to himself. In one smooth step, he bumped past an indignant Eren and moved into the chair across from Marco, languid smile stretched across his face. He leaned closer, with his chin propped up on his hand. “And you?” A small wave of shock washed over Marco, nervousness kicking into full throttle. He silently cursed himself as he averted his eyes and stuttered out, “Mm-ma-Marco.”

Jean ignored Eren’s grumble of, “I literally just said that.”

“Well, Mm-ma-Marco,” Jean said, dropping his hand and sliding close, “how bout I take you to dinner?”

Eyes widened in shock, Marco’s full attention was back on Jean. “Umm,” he said. Jean raised his eyebrows, smile still in place, patiently waiting for a response. Marco’s first instinct is to go on defense but the warmth of Jean’s expression made him think it might be okay to believe he’s being sincere. “Yeah,” he answered slowly, “okay.”

“Okay? Okay!” Eren yelped, dumbfounded. “You, Boo Radley 2.0, just agreed to go out, as in out of the house, with Jean. Jean Kirschtein.” He threw his hands up in disbelief. “You wouldn’t even go see the new Star Wars with me. Three years of loyal friendship but all this shithead has to do is smile? Never, in my entire life, have I been more offended than I am right now.”

Rolling his eyes, Jean turned and flipped him off. “Fuck off, Jaeger. I’m trying to work my mojo.”

“Do you see this Marco? You honestly want to get to know this jerk? This is just more proof of why you need to let me take you out more. Your standards have obviously had a drastic decline.” Eren waved his hands around flabbergasted.

Turning his back on his befuddled friend, Jean placed a gentle hand over Marco’s. “Despite the opinion of present company, I swear I can show you a good time. I’ll swing back here around six?”

“Sounds great.” Marco said while side eyeing Eren amused.

Jean stood. “I’ll go get ready. See ya in a bit, sunshine.” He said with wink. A small laugh escaped Marco and he was out the door.

The seat in front of him was filled almost immediately with an indignant Eren. “Don’t get me wrong. I brought him over to force you to make new friends but I didn’t expect him to sweep you away with some dumb gay pickup like that. And,” He folded his arms across his chest, “I certainly didn’t expect it to work on you. See I knew that these four walls with only the brief appearances of me were starting to get to you.”  
Cheeks warm and skin buzzing, Marco left out a soft laugh. “You’ve got to admit; he’s kinda cute for a guy that looks like he still shops at Hot Topic.”

Eren scoffed, “If you only knew. He has a skate board too and he doesn't even know how to ride it.”

“What’s your problem with it anyway. Wasn’t it your ‘master plan’ to force me out of the house?” Marco asked, sliding a cup of lukewarm coffee towards Eren.

Eren took a sip of it and frowned as he dropped a handful of sugar cubes into it from the dish in the center of the table. “I didn’t think punk losers were your type.” Eren took another drink of his coffee and averted his eyes. “And I’m more upset about how easy it was for you to tell him yes.”

“Oh,” Marco said suddenly feeling like a jerk. “I don’t know. He distracted me from everything I guess. Maybe it was his goofy expression or the entire pot of black coffee I drank before you got here.” He joked with a light kick to Eren’s leg. “The dude practically has ‘Trying Too Hard’ stamped to his forehead but it’s kind of charming.”

“Only you would find gross overconfidence charming.” Eren gave a long sigh. “Whatever dude. I’m just happy you’re not gonna spend the night watching Desperate Housewives or some shit. But if this becomes like a thing don’t expect me to ever understand it. Figured you were into Ryan Gosling with a pocket protector or guys who made flower crowns.”

“I wore a sweater vest once. When will you let me live it down?”

“Never.”

They sat around joking for a couple more hours before Eren left him to “reconsider his taste.” Which gave him just enough time to change three times and start pacing down the hallway jittering. Even if he did want to back out he couldn’t. Jean didn’t give him his number. Maybe he didn’t give it to him because he was joking. Yeah, this had to be a prank. Just as Marco was about to call Eren a knock sounded from the front door making him jump out of his skin. He gulped and looked out the peephole in the door and there Jean stood. Marco steeled himself. This was dumb. He was getting worked up over nothing. With one last deep breath, he put on a smile and threw open the door.

“Hey,” Jean said holding out a bouquet of daisies and looking a little pink in the cheeks. 

Marco took them feeling his face mirror the big goofy grin on Jean’s. “Wow. You’re the first guy to ever bring me flowers.”

He laughed and straightened his jacket as he said, “Not everyone can be a true romantic like me.”

“And Eren said you had no charm.” Marco teased as he motioned for Jean to come in.

Following Marco into the kitchen, he said, “He’s just jealous he’s not on my level.” Marco pulled out a vase from underneath the sink and filled it with water, dropping the flowers inside.

“Can I ask you a question?” Marco said as he placed the vase in the center of his kitchen table.

“Only if you I can ask you one.” Jean answered leaning against the counter.

“Fair,” he nodded. “Why do you and Eren hang out but all you two do is argue?”

“He’s ridiculously jealous of me. Isn’t it obvious?” Marco just raised a suspicious eyebrow. “And maybe it has something to do with me hitting on his sister too much when we were younger.” He conceded. 

“Ballsy,” he said leaning against the counter next to him. “You simultaneously broke the bro code and hit on Mikasa.”

Jean chuckled. “Not unscathed. I’ve learned my lesson.” He studied Marco’s freckled face before saying, “So my question.” His eyes flicked to his feet and back up to meet Marco’s. “Why don’t you come out that often?”

“Oh,” Marco said looking away. He should have expected the question. “Um,” he tried to begin. “I actually leave the house all the time. I work with Eren remember? I just don’t go out after dark.” He trailed off.

Jean placed a calming hand over Marco’s. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. That was probably a pretty heavy question for the first date.”

“No, I wanna tell you.” Marco said awkwardly scratching the back of his neck with his other hand. “One day about three years ago, I was on my way home from work. Before Eren started. It was late. I should have known better than to be walking in Trost at midnight.” He shrugged uselessly. “It’s been so long ago. I should be okay to talk about it now. At least I thought it’d get easier.” Jean gripped his hand tighter and some how that was all the encouragement he needed to continue. “Three guys jumped me. They took my wallet but I didn’t have much and they weren’t happy about that. So,” Marco looked back up at Jean. “One stabbed me a couple times and took my watch.” He ran a hand over his right side to indicate where.

“And the first thing I do is ask you to go out with me after the sun went down and I'm pretty much a total stranger.” Jean tried at a playful smile. “This must be a great first date for you.” But it _was_ great. Yeah he’d just dropped that baggage at Jean’s feet but he’d been keeping it to himself for so long. Eren had tried to coax it out of him for years but all Jean had to do was hold his hand. It made him feel light and at ease for the first time in a long time.

Marco chuckled softly. “The night is still young.”

“Guess I better make sure you don’t regret saying yes.” He watched Marco slide on his coat. “Shall we?” He asked opening the door. It was dark. The sun barely peeking above the horizon and the beeping and honking of Trost filled his home along with the cold, biting air. His heart beat hard in his chest. He felt a warm hand slip into his and he spun his head to Jean, looking down slightly to meet his eyes. “It’ll be fun. I don’t take cute boys on bad dates.” He promised. “I’ve got you.” He said running a thumb across the back of Marco’s hand.

And he believed him, it was easy to. He knew this was going to be hard, that it maybe it always will be, but tonight everything was just right, and nice, and tender, and doable. He held Jean’s hand tight. Took a deep breath. And stepped out his front door into the night for the first time in three years.

And he couldn’t have been happier.

“I’ll hold you to that.”


End file.
